Many schools try to relieve stress before the big day with fun activities, parties and pep rallies, while others have their students put their heads down and plow through the high stakes testing.
Dr. Dana Marable, interim superintendent of the Temple school district, recently attended the TAKS pep rally at Raye-Allen Elementary School.
The Temple High School cheerleaders were on hand and students heard a few words of wisdom from former Raye-Allen students encouraging them to work hard. She said many treat this time as a celebration of all they have done so far this year.
“You set your goals and you evaluate your progress, then we celebrate the end result,” Dr. Marable said. “We’re celebrating a little bit early but that is saying we have faith that we are going to do well. We celebrate what we’re doing, then sit back and say, we’re ready.”
She said the stress of testing is intense for teachers as well as students, and it’s hard to make students feel at ease when teachers have to meet state and national standards.
“We always want testing to be something we do for children, not something we do to children,” Dr. Marable said.
Darrell Becker, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction for the Belton school district, said Belton elementary schools have similar rallies to loosen students up, but also to get them to recognize how vital it is that they do well.
“At the elementary level they have rallies they use to help students learn the importance of the test and put forth their best effort and help them understand test-taking strategies,” Becker said. “Teachers have opportunities to help the kids prepare and be excited and also to release some stress. We ask a lot of our students and we don’t want them to be stressed.
“Third-graders are aware that they must pass the test to be promoted, as well as the eighth-graders, so we don’t need to put any pressure on them as teachers for them to understand the gravity of that one test,” Becker said. “They have multiple chances to take it, but they know they have a lot riding on this personally and it is important to keep that in perspective.”
He said each school’s pep rally is different, but they lack the wild and crazy atmosphere of an athletic pep rally.
“The flavor of those rallies are really reflective of the personality of the campus,” Becker said. “In some cases they are fairly low key. It’s not like a football pep rally, but it’s different at each campus.”
The Holland school district takes a different approach, choosing to keep celebration to a minimum and treat the test like any other evaluation.
“We’re just in there working every single day. We’re making sure the kids are prepared and they have the best testing opportunities they can,” said Cindy Gunn, Holland schools superintendent. “This is just part of the process and we do an assessment. This isn’t just a one-time shot and once it’s over we’re finished learning.”
She said the teachers convey the seriousness of the test through the normal class day.
“Our kids take it seriously,” she said. “We have total buy-in from our kids so that they want to do the best on their tests. I think the reason why some schools resort to that kind of thing is that the kids don’t understand how important it is.
“It’s extremely serious, which is why we don’t do a pep rally,” she said. “Our kids already understand the importance of it and they are doing everything they can to do what the teacher is asking of them.”
The next TAKS testing day is April 8 when fifth- and eighth-graders will take the math portion of the test, followed by grades three, four, six, seven and 10 on April 29.
kchandler@temple-telegram.com
